The word 幸存者 is formed by combining three meaningful components: 幸 (xìng), meaning "fortunately" or "by luck", sets the tone of accidental good fortune; 存 (cún), meaning "to exist", "to survive", or "to preserve", conveys the core action of remaining alive; finally, 者 (zhě) acts as a suffix that attaches to verbs, turning the preceding idea into "the one who" or "the person that". Thus, the characters sequentially build the concept from "fortunate" to "survive" to "one who", logically arriving at the complete meaning: "one who has survived by fortune", or simply, a survivor.